Abstract
Introduction: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease with no known cure, limited treatment options with minimal benefits, and significant unmet need for disease modifying therapies.
Aims: This study investigated memantine's impact on ALS progression, with an additional focus on the effects of memantine on cognitive and behavioral changes associated with the disease.
Methods: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted from December 2018 to September 2020. ALS patients were enrolled in-person and remotely across 13 sites in the United States. Participants were randomized to memantine (20 mg twice daily) or placebo in a 2:1 ratio and completed 36 weeks of treatment. The primary outcome of disease progression was assessed by the Revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R), and blood was collected for biomarker analysis.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2025
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1002/mus.28287
Funding Information
This work was funded by FDA-OPD Grant no. R01FD003937.
Repository Citation
Bhai, Salman; Levine, Todd; Moore, Dan; Bowser, Robert; Heim, Andrew J.; Walsh, Maureen; Shibani, Aziz; Simmons, Zachary; Grogan, James; Goyal, Namita A.; Govindarajan, Raghav; Hussain, Yessar; Papsdorf, Tania; Schwasinger-Schmidt, Tiffany; Olney, Nick; Goslin, Kim; Pulley, Michael; Kasarskis, Edward J.; Weiss, Michael; Katz, Susan W.; Moser, Suzan; Jabari, Duaa; Jawdat, Omar; Statland, Jeffrey; Dimachkie, Mazen M.; Barohn, Richard; and Neuromuscular Study Group and Western ALS Consortium Memantine ALS Study Group, "A 40-week phase 2B randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study evaluating the safety and efficacy of memantine in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis" (2025). Neurology Faculty Publications. 97.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/neurology_facpub/97
Included in
Medical Physiology Commons, Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Commons, Neurology Commons, Physiology Commons
Notes/Citation Information
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. © 2024 The Author(s). Muscle & Nerve published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.